A Review of: “Kennedy-Moore,E., & Lowenthal,M. S. (2011). Smart Parenting for Smart Kids: Nurturing Your Child's True Potential.”

Behavioral procedures aimed at decreasing disruptiveness through increasing self-evaluative skills and programming generalization in a class of disruptive retarded children were examined. Phases of the study included: (a) baseline; (b) systematic feedback; (c) a token economy; (d) matching of teacher's ratings by students; (e) four fading phases during which progressively fewer students were required to match the teacher; (f) self-evaluation during which each student received the amount of points self-allotted regardless of teacher's ratings; (g) doubling of point costs of back-up reinforcers ("Inflation"); (h) complete removal of back-up reinforcers ("Points Only"); and (i) return to baseline conditions. The class was observed 5 days per week dueing a morning experimental period and several times per week in the afternoon as a measure of generalization. Additional measures of generalization included days when the token program was not in effect ("Off Days") and when the class was taught by a substitute teacher. Behavior was recorded according to an interval sampling observational code. The results showed that systematic feedback was effective in significantly reducing disruptiveness with even greater reductions resulting from the token program and the subsequent matching and fading phases. Decreased levels of disruptiveness were maintained throughout self-evaluation and the phases which followed. Decreased levels of disruption also generalized to afternoon sessions, to days when the experimental procedures were not in effect, and to self-evaluate, the class initially matched the teacher's ratings with about 50% accuracy. This gradually increased to consistently above 90% during the latter phases. The study demonstrated that retarded children can learn to accurately observe and veridically evaluate their own behavior, and that this has beneficial effects in terms of decreased disruptiveness.     

Preventative Behavioral Parent Training: A Preliminary Investigation of Strategies for Preventing At-Risk Children From Developing Later Conduct Problems

Children exhibiting conduct problems comprise the largest source of referrals to children's mental health services. The treatment for conduct problems that possesses the greatest amount of empirical support is behavioral parent training. Unfortunately, a cogent approach to the identification of risk factors and prevention of chronic conduct problem display has not been developed. This project was an initial longitudinal assessment examining the merits of preventative behavioral parent training as a primary prevention strategy for at-risk children. Results demonstrated that prevention participants were engaging in normative rates of disruptive behaviors at 6-month follow-up, whereas comparison children showed a behavioral decline over time.     

Non-Violent Survival Strategies in the Face of Intimate Partner Violence and Economic Discrimination

Intimate partner violence (IPV) theory often locates violence equitably between women and men. Women, however, sustain greater degrees of injury than men and often use violence as a measure of protection rather than as an act of aggression. Yet measures of protection must be viewed in multiple contexts. In this case, the context is poverty, which reveals that violence by women in response to IPV is not the only way that women deal with the violence in their lives. This article explicates four strategies that battered women in poverty deploy in their protective trajectory and highlight alternative resistance strategies women use to overcome multiple structural barriers.     

Development and implementation of a spiritual coping group intervention for adults living with HIV/AIDS: A pilot study

The aims of the current study were to (1) describe a spirituality-oriented, group pilot intervention for HIV-positive adults, and (2) examine the preliminary impact of the intervention among a sample (N?=?13) of adults living with HIV in an urban city in northeast United States. The 8-session intervention, based on the cognitive theory of stress and coping and the framework of spiritual coping, addressed stressors unique to HIV disease. Changes in spiritual coping and mental health were evaluated using a within group pretest-posttest design. Results revealed that, at post-intervention, participants reported higher self-rated religiosity, more use of positive spiritual coping, lower use of negative spiritual coping, and lower depression. Studies using a randomized, controlled design with larger samples of individuals with HIV are needed to determine the efficacy of a spiritual intervention when compared to a secular one.     

Suicide and the Rorschach: A Rueful Postscript

A review of the Rorschach suicide literature written 10 years ago called for cross validation studies and the use of refined methodology in order to enhance the usefulness of the test as a device for the identification, prediction, and understanding of suicidal ideation and behavior. The present followup review was undertaken and it was concluded that careful and refined research methodology can somewhat enhance sensitivity of the Rorschach to suicidal activity. It was also concluded the replicative research has not supported previously promising Rorschach suicide indicators, suggesting that the Rorschach may be an inappropriate technique for assessing suicidal activity.     

Bender Gestalt Evaluation of Brain Dysfunction Following Open-Heart Surgery

The heart-lung machine makes open-heart surgery possible by providing extracorporeal blood circulation; however, it creates microemboli in the blood that cause neurological damage. A new filter, designed to remove these emboli, was assessed by preoperative and postoperative Bender Gestalt testing. A lesser degree of the kinds of visual-motor difficulties associated with neurological deficit was produced by patients who received filtered blood. Postoperative impairment was assessed with some precision by using the Pascal-Suttell method of scoring distortions of Bender designs. The Bender scores were consistent with ultrasonic (sonar) counts of microemboli.     

Hope and Burden among Latino Families of Adults with Schizophrenia

This study examined hope and family burden among Latino families of individuals with schizophrenia. The sample consisted of 54 family members, one family member per outpatient adult recruited from public mental health programs in a diverse urban community. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to test the hypothesis that the family member's increased hope for the patient's future would be associated with decreased family burden beyond effects explained by the patient's length of illness and severity of symptoms. Results supported the study hypothesis. Family hope for the patient's future was associated with four of five types of family burden. Findings point to the prominent role of hope as a source of resilience for Latino families dealing with severe mental illness of a loved one.